A Gazan in the Jordan Valley…

I was shocked to find out that I had received permission to leave Gaza to go to the West Bank after almost one year without having had this advantage because of the current blockade that is imposed on Gaza.

I was asked by my supervisor, Jennifer Moorehead, to prepare myself, my recorder, and my camera to visit the Jordan Valley, where we’re implementing an important protection project to help Palestinians who have been forcibly displaced to the Jordan Valley.

I was so excited to be going there, because it was my first visit ever to the Valley. But when I arrived, it was so different from anywhere else in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. I saw clay homes with metal roofs in an area famous for its burning heat in the summer and children walking at least 1.5 kilometers to their schools because there is no proper public transportation system. I was most shocked when I found out that Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley are still without electricity, and that they only get water once a week for less than 24 hours!

As part of my job, I conducted several interviews with children and families who have benefited from our programme to renovate kindergartens and build homes. Two of the families I met were so eager to meet me and to deliver a message of gratitude to Save the Children for the 1,000 liter water tanks we have distributed to them.  Despite the continuous water shortages, the water tanks have provided them with a stable water source in their homes for the very first time.

On the way back to the office, I was trying to make some kind of comparison between the situation I’m living in in Gaza to the Jordan Valley, but it was difficult to compare – the difficulties they are facing are so extreme.